DAVID S. LEFKOWITZ, Preludes & Fugues for Piano

Originating from the 16^th-century Renaissance imitative counterpoint, the fugue’s main melody – or subject - is introduced by one voice and then imitated by other voices in succession to create an intricate and interwoven texturing. The term “fuga,” meaning “flight” in Latin, was used to describe the way one musical voices chases another that has already played the main theme.

While the form reached a peak in the Baroque era via the refining and popularizing of greats like Bach, it’s alive and well today in the great caring hands and visionary compositions of David S. Lefkowitz, a world-renowned composer and Professor of Music Composition and Theory at UCLA. Fourteen years after he graced us with his debut album Inner World (featuring pianist David Fung), he returns with Preludes & Fugues for Piano, a visionary and epic work featuring a 2 hour, 45 minute program of 26 preludes and fugues (50 tracks in all) that is already being described as “near Mahlerian” for its aesthetic of extreme emotional contrasts (deep sadness, profound joy) and artfully (and often experimentally) juxtaposing different musical elements – often to transcendent, hypnotic effect.

Beginning with the initially delicate, then dramatic and ever-adventurous pairing of “Prelude & Fugue No. 1, Book 1 1 & 2,” the collection is presented as a constantly rotating collective spotlighting, in constant rotation, the alternately sensitive and  vigorous, remarkably intuitive (and always up to the intense challenge) collective of notable contemporary pianists Steve Beck, David Kaplan, Michael Mizrahi and Mika Sasaki.

On both CD and streaming, Disc 1 is subtitled Expanded Universe, a reference to the expansion to 13 preludes and fugues from an earlier set of 10 and the unique modes Lefkowitz created. Listening to this “disc” feels like you’re listening to a wildly inventive, ultra-exploratory contemporary master composer for piano, truly on par with the greats from throughout the centuries.

Disc 2, subtitled Parallel Universes, is – true to its name – something else entirely, a fairly surreal immersion into the ingenious, experimental/avant-garde parts of Lefkowitz’s beautiful, expansive mind. His commissioned pianists are quite game, delving passionately into the sonic possibilities of prepared piano pieces and creating offbeat percussive, often dissonant sounds using resonant bells, intense drums and percussion and a “kitchen sink” potpourri of screws, chopsticks, sponges, beach towels, paper, vocal sounds and even some charming, folksy whistling (by Lefkowitz himself) on the “fugue” portion of the opening pair “Slendro.”

One might say Book One is the more palatable, melodic listen, while Book Two offers so many unpredictable colors that listeners will keep tuning in to see what hits their ears next. Overall, Preludes and Fugues for Piano is a fascinating work that opens fresh and exciting new doors of what’s possible in contemporary piano based classical music.